Have you ever been in a situation when riding your horse where his misbehaviour had you feeling vulnerable and out of control? Most riders will experience this situation more than once in their riding careers. How do you regain control without having the horse buck, rear or run backwards? There is a simple solution ... The bend is your friend. A horse in a true bend cannot buck or rear and can be quickly and easily stopped from backing up.
Creating True Bend
To create a true bend, apply pressure from your inside leg just behind the girth and ask the horse to yield his ribs. At the same time, open your inside rein to "open the door" into the turn. Keep his nose lined up with the centre of his chest so that you don't create over flexion in his neck by pulling his head in towards your leg. You want to create a nice bend through his spine from nose to tail with no kinks in his spine. Pulling his head to the inside will cause his outside shoulder to pull out of the bend making it more difficult for you to control the outside of his body .
Create a block to his outside shoulder by keeping your own outside shoulder back and maintaining contact on the outside rein. If your outside shoulder or arm slide forwards, you will be giving away the outside rein which will allow the horse to over flex himself and push through his outside shoulder. You may also need to use your outside upper leg as a block to your horse's outside shoulder.
As you get your horse bending & turning, ask him to go forward into the circle and gradually spiral in to a smaller & smaller circle. (Maintain contact on both the outside & inside reins without over flexing the neck & pulling the head in.) As the circle gets smaller, it becomes more difficult for the horse to go fast & he will slow himself down. Done correctly, both you & your horse remain balanced and in alignment which helps to decrease the stress both you are feeling.
Stopping Backing Up
If your horse is backing up, you can also use bend to your advantage to deal with this evasion. Again, keep an open inside rein, inside leg asking for the bend, outside shoulder back to maintain contact on the outside rein and outside upper leg blocking the outside shoulder. Rotate your core into the turn. Bring your inside leg back towards the hind quarter and push the hind end out of the bend. This action disengages the hind quarters. As soon as your horse stops backing up, ask him to walk forward into the bend. Maintain contact on the reins without pulling back. He must feel no block to going forward or he may start backing up again.
Remember that simple does not mean easy. To be in control when riding, your horse needs to have respect for your boundaries, blocks & pushes. You need to be supple and balanced in your seat and clear in your aids. To develop your own skills, practice on a well schooled, well behaved horse under the guidance of a professional trainer. As your skills progress, you will be able to apply them to a younger, less schooled or more challenging horse. Practice the exercises described above regularly so that they become second nature and you will have the ability to apply them effectively and proactively when your horse is getting out of control. Practice does not make perfect - Perfect Practice Makes Perfect.
By Anne Gage
Anne Gage is a Double Certified riding coach & horse trainer. She teaches adult riders to be confidently work with their horses, improve their riding skills and bring the joy back into their riding experience. Her training and coaching methods are based on building mutual trust & respect between horse and human. Anne coaches and trains clients out of High Point Farm near Orangeville, Ontario, Canada and also travels to other locations giving one & two day clinics. For more information, visit her website http://highpointfarm.homestead.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Anne_Gage
No comments:
Post a Comment